A federal judge says Arizona's election law can't be enforced in 2022

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

According to a federal judge, Arizona officials cannot implement new election legislation until after the midterm elections.

During the September 8 order, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton, who was appointed by Clinton, ruled that Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and other officials will not take any action to enforce H.B. 2243 that would remove any voter's eligibility to vote in the 2022 general election or disqualify any otherwise valid ballot.

An earlier Thursday, Hobbs, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, and the Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander for Equity Coalition presented to the court a proposed order that Bolton accepted.

“While we are pleased with this early agreement that protects the right to vote in the next election, we remain steadfast in our commitment to continue to fight both of these voter suppression laws for the long term,” May Tiwamangkala, an official with the coalition, said in a statement. “We are in this fight to protect the rights of all voters in our state, including those from the AANHPI communities.”

The officials and the coalition, which sued over the bill in August, agreed that “the provisions of H.B. 2243 should not operate in a manner that would prevent any voter from (1) voting in the upcoming November 2022 general election or (2) having their vote be counted.” Hobbs and Brnovich also decided that the changes to the state election code shouldn’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2023, because one of the laws the bill is amending is not effective itself until then.

10 Sep 2022